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TEXT 168
veda na maniya bauddha haya ta' nastika
vedasraya nastikya-vada bauddhake adhika
SYNONYMS
vedathe Vedic literature; nanot; maniyaaccepting; bauddhathe Buddhists; hayaare; ta'-indeed; nastikaagnostics; veda-asrayataking shelter of Vedic civilization; nastikya-vadaagnosticism; bauddhakeeven Buddhists; adhikasurpassing.
TRANSLATION
"The Buddhists do not recognize the authority of the Vedas; therefore they are considered agnostics. However, those who have taken shelter of the Vedic scriptures yet preach agnosticism in accordance with the Mayavada philosophy are certainly more dangerous than the Buddhists.
PURPORT
Although the Buddhists are directly opposed to Vaisnava philosophy, it can easily be understood that the Sankarites are more dangerous because they accept the authority of the Vedas yet act contrary to Vedic instruction. Vedasraya nastikya-vada means "agnosticism under the shelter of Vedic culture" and refers to the monistic philosophy of the Mayavadis. Lord Buddha abandoned the authority of the Vedic literature and therefore rejected the ritualistic ceremonies and sacrifices recommended in the Vedas. His nirvana philosophy means stopping all material activities. Lord Buddha did not recognize the presence of transcendental forms and spiritual activities beyond the material world. He simply described voidism beyond this material existence. The Mayavadi philosophers offer lip service to Vedic authority but try to escape the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies. They concoct some idea of a transcendental position and call themselves Narayana, or God. However, God's position is completely different from their concoction. Such Mayavadi philosophers consider themselves above the influence of karma-kanda (fruitive activities and their reactions). For them, the spiritual world is equated with the Buddhist voidism. There is very little difference between impersonalism and voidism. Voidism can be directly understood, but the impersonalism enunciated by Mayavadi philosophers is not very easily understandable. Of course, Mayavadi philosophers accept a spiritual existence, but they do not know about the spiritual world and spiritual beings. According to Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.2.32):
ye 'nye 'ravindaksa vimukta-maninas
tvayy asta-bhavad avisuddha-buddhayah aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah patanty adho 'nadrta-yusmad-anghrayah The intelligence of the Mayavadis is not purified; therefore even though they practice austerities for self-realization, they cannot remain within the impersonal brahmajyoti. Consequently, they fall down again into this material world.
The Mayavadis' conception of spiritual existence is almost identical to the negation of material existence. The Mayavadis believe that there is nothing positive in spiritual life. As a result, they cannot understand devotional service or the worship of the Supreme Person, sac-cid-ananda-vigraha. The Mayavadi philosophers consider Deity worship in devotional service to be pratibimba-vada, or the worship of a form that is the reflection of a false material form. Thus the Lord's transcendental form, which is eternally blissful and full of knowledge, is unknown to Mayavadi philosophers. Although the term "Bhagavan" is explicitly described in Srimad-Bhagavatam, they cannot understand it. Brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate: "The Absolute Truth is called Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan." (Bhag. 1.2.11) The Mayavadis try to understand Brahman only, or, at the most, Paramatma. However, they are unable to understand Bhagavan. Therefore the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, says: mayayapahrta-jnanah. Because of the Mayavadi philosophers' temperament, real knowledge is taken from them. Because they cannot receive the mercy of the Lord, they will always be bewildered by His transcendental form. Impersonal philosophy destroys the three phases of knowledge-jnana, jneya and jnata. As soon as one speaks of knowledge, there must be a person who is the knower, the knowledge itself and the object of knowledge. Mayavada philosophy combines these three categories; therefore the Mayavadis cannot understand how the spiritual potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead act. Because of their poor fund of knowledge, they cannot understand the distinction in the spiritual world between knowledge, the knower and the object of knowledge. Because of this, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu considers the Mayavadi philosophers more dangerous than the Buddhists.
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